A3
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, ApRIl 28, 2022
SEASIDE
School district
renews focus on
Broadway Field
Under orders to
improve equity
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
For The Astorian
SEASIDE — After a
survey and geological test-
ing, the Seaside School
District Board is moving
away from Wahanna Field
as the potential location for
a new softball complex and
instead focusing on Broad-
way Field.
“Wahanna Field doesn’t
provide a good devel-
opment location for this
facility,” consultant Brian
Hardebeck, of Day CPM
Services, told the school
board during a meeting last
week.
The new or upgraded
facility must meet require-
ments outlined in a resolu-
tion with the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education’s Office
for Civil Rights to pro-
vide more equity between
girls and boys sports facili-
ties. The school district has
until June 2023 to com-
plete the project.
In February, the school
board voted to focus on
Wahanna as the top can-
didate for the new facility,
while not ruling out three
other viable options. This
sparked further investiga-
tion into the site, which
included a regular survey,
geologic testing and a wet-
lands delineation study.
“We were a little disap-
pointed in the results we
received, primarily from
the geologic testing,” Har-
debeck said. “Findings
there were not conducive
to recommendation of fur-
ther development on that
property.”
The soil doesn’t have
enough lateral resistivity
to handle foundation load-
ing for construction, with a
rock layer that wouldn’t be
stable over the short term,
“let alone the long term,”
he said.
“The geotechnical con-
cerns are pretty crucial,”
added Josh Modin, with
ZCS Engineering. Addi-
tionally, the wetlands study
revealed wetlands in antic-
ipated areas and encroach-
ing on the playing field
itself, which could cre-
ate unsafe surfaces for the
softball players, he said.
Upon receiving these
results, the team tenta-
tively moved on to the
second option: Broad-
way Field. They met with
leadership from the city’s
planning department and
Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District in early
April.
“Everyone is onboard
to try to make this a nice
complex as an option for
the community and for the
school district,” Hardebeck
said.
The main concern with
this site is whether a field
of adequate size will fit —
a determination that can be
made quickly.
“There is a range of
dimensions allowed as per
(the Oregon School Activ-
ities Association),” Modin
said, adding the field out-
lined in the rough diagram
presented at the meeting
portrayed the maximum
size. “That’s part of why
doing another test-fit run is
so important: to make sure
we can fit this on this site.
We’re pretty confident we
can if we utilize that range,
not just the maximum.”
Broadway Field pres-
ents several advantages,
including an established
parking lot; existing infra-
structure for water, power
and other utilities; and a
concession stand and bat-
ting cages. The site also
doesn’t pose wetlands or
geological concerns.
“There are a few less
hoops to jump through,”
Modin said.
Board member Chris
Corder voiced concerns
about rushing the process
and questioned the via-
bility of Broadway Field
because of concerns about
the complex fitting there.
“I’d love for it to be at
Broadway, because it’s
amazing,” he said. “But
also, are we going to shove
something into a spot that’s
not going to be a great
facility for years and years
and years to come?”
Several factors are
influencing the softball
complex project, including
budget and timeline.
“We’re running out of
time and options,” school
board member Mark Truax
said.
Another site on the
table is the city’s property
by the old Seaside High
School, referred to as the
North 40. The school dis-
trict would have to nego-
tiate a new intergovern-
mental agreement with
the city to develop on the
property.
Additionally,
they
would need to add a storm
drainage system and build
a new parking lot, bath-
rooms, concessions, bat-
ting cages and other infra-
structure. Giving a rough
estimate, Modin pro-
jected the North 40 could
be about $1 million more
to develop than Broadway
Field, making the latter
option the “most econom-
ical and the most desired
from the community.”
“We’re trying to fix
this the right way, so that
you’ve got a facility that
will last you,” he said.
At the meeting, the
board approved for the
consulting team to move
forward with investigatory
work on Broadway Field
and potentially the North
40, with Broadway being
the preferred location.
Port: The consent judgment puts an obligation on the
Port to work toward getting the remediation completed
Continued from page A1
“This was quite the pro-
cess. Obviously there were
a lot of parties involved,
including Oregon DEQ,”
Isom said. “Our hope was
this would move forward a
little quicker.”
Reaching a solution was
one of his first big pushes
when he was hired as exec-
utive director in 2019, Isom
said.
Both Isom and Anna
Coates, a project manager
from the Department of
Environmental Quality who
has overseen much of the
negotiations, reviews and
studies involving the con-
tamination, expressed antici-
pation about moving toward
cleanup.
“It’s
very
exciting
because what they’re going
to do next is actually start
doing the design,” Coates
said. “Up to this point,
they’ve been doing investi-
gations and trying to figure
out how bad the contamina-
tion is and how extensive it
is and negotiating between
the different parties. Now
they’re going to be doing
work plans to clean it up and
that’s great.”
The consent judgment,
which took about two
years to get negotiated and
approved, puts an obligation
on the Port to work toward
getting the remediation
completed.
With a large obsta-
cle overcome, the Port can
look to permitting, acquir-
ing grants and engineering
the cleanup plan with long-
time environmental consul-
tant, Maul Foster & Alongi,
of Vancouver, Washington.
‘Dark cloud’
At the site between Pier 2
and Pier 3, Coates noted that
contamination was substan-
tial enough at first to cause
harm to people and wildlife.
Soil,
sediment
and
groundwater contamination,
as well as the discharging
of groundwater into surface
water, were all found in slip
2 in initial studies. Intrusion
of soil vapor – when vapors
come out of the soil and into
the air – was also determined
to be taking place under the
Port’s old office building.
“The worst part of it was
the sheen in the surface
water,” Coates said. “There’s
not much of that left, but that
of course is a direct impact
to any … types of smaller
animals. The vapor intrusion
into the building was (also)
fairly significant.”
A number of minor proj-
ects were conducted over
the years, including pump-
ing out contaminants, the
removal of underground
storage tanks, the rerout-
ing of the Port’s stormwater
system and tactics to catch
hydrocarbons leaching into
the river. The projects have
reduced the overall levels
of petroleum in the ground-
water and lowered the envi-
ronmental risk, but the most
recent tests concluded that
contamination still exists.
In dealing with the con-
tamination and facing the
ensuing financial costs, the
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Port of Astoria expects permitting for a cleanup plan to take up the next 18 to 24 months.
Port pursued several court
cases against former attor-
neys and insurers regarding
insurance policies.
The Port settled with its
former environmental law
specialist for $300,000 in
2012, claiming that he made
no efforts to find pre-1986
policies that would have
provided
contamination
coverage.
For similar issues, the
Port also settled with another
former attorney for $50,000
and several insurance agen-
cies for $550,000.
Thane Tienson, an envi-
ronmental attorney who was
representing the Port in the
matter, died of a heart attack
last year.
Tienson’s law partner,
David Blount, who also rep-
resented the Port, recently
retired.
“It feels like this issue of
AOC4 has been this dark
cloud that has been hanging
over the Port for a long time
and we knew we had this
liability hanging over our
heads,” Isom said. “To get to
the point where we are get-
ting these things taken care
of and we’re moving the
organization forward I think
is important.”
Next steps
After a number of poten-
tial solutions were broached
over the course of negoti-
ations, the Port, oil com-
panies and the Department
of Environmental Quality
eventually agreed upon a
broad scheme to tackle the
contamination in 2019.
The selected plan will
include excavation of the
contaminated soil and the
installation of a permeable
cap and a reactive barrier to
prevent groundwater from
reaching the surface water.
Specifics of the plan still
need to be designed.
In 2020, the Port settled
with the oil companies for
$2.9 million. The settlement
details that McCall will
pay the Port $1.55 million
and Exxon $1.35 million,
with the Port defending and
indemnifying the oil com-
panies against future claims
regarding the cleanup.
While the total cost of the
project is not yet set in stone,
the Port still expects to shell
out a significant amount as
monitoring becomes neces-
sary over time.
Isom said the agency
would be aggressive in pur-
suing grants for the project.
The Port, in a part-
nership with the city,
recently adopted a mas-
ter plan for redevelopment
in Uniontown, just down
the waterfront from the
contamination.
City Councilor Tom
Brownson said during a City
Council meeting this month
that the cleanup was a long
time coming and “that’s
not only important for the
Port, it’s important for Asto-
ria because that’s a piece of
property that can be devel-
oped and used for something
more productive.”
Isom noted that environ-
mental cleanup was the pri-
ority for the contaminated
area, with or without future
development.
In the meantime, Isom
expects permitting to take
up the next 18 to 24 months,
with construction beginning
shortly after.
“This is a message that
we do take our role as good
stewards of the environment
seriously … It further helps
to develop the trust within
the community that the Port
can be relied upon and we’re
being responsible managers
of this public asset,” Isom
said.
VETERANS IN
CLATSOP COUNTY
NEED YOUR HELP!
Clatsop County’s Rural Veterans Healthcare
Transportation is seeking volunteers to help
our local veterans access their crucial medical
appointments.
Volunteer drivers are needed to pick up
veterans at their home, take them to their local
appointment and bring them home from the
appointment. There also are times when a
veteran will need to be taken to an appointment
in Portland and returned home. Volunteer
drivers are reimbursed for the miles they drive.
If you are a licensed driver and own or have
access to a vehicle and can volunteer to
transport veterans to healthcare appointments
please contact:
Jason Jones
Mobility Manager
Sunset Empire Transportation District
503-861-5361
jason@ridethebus.org
Thank You.